Megaman ZX: Steel Ghosts
by Serras-Kai
Summary: The story of a group of Guardians who find themselved caught up in a conflict larger than themselves, which threatens to destroy the organization from the inside.
1. Before Hand

This is my first fanfic, so take it easy on me.

_**Chapter 1:**__** Before Hand**_

It had occurs to most Guardians at some point that their most exciting missions were always their first ones. The mission before you are lose any delusions as to the experience. It was the same for everyone who rode silently in the transport truck, everyone who sat listening to the one who was the exception to the rule, the rookie that had joined squad six.

She had kept herself busy (and everyone awake) for the past several hours as she gave him a detailed description of her initiation and conformation of having become a Guardian. She rambled on about her favorite foods, family members, possessions, and anything else she could think of.

It was strange (in a hilarious sort of way, or so the troops decided) that she had latched onto their commander, the tall and athletic young man with short red hair who stared at her through half-closed eyes that told the rest of the squad that he was probably asleep.

"So how did you become a Guardian?" Her face was still bright and cheery, full of youth and life. A few battles would change that. Her hair was a platinum blonde and hung in a ponytail down to her waist. She leaned closer to their commander, trying to pry an answer out of him.

The rookie seemed about ready to ask again when the last member of their ten member squad shuffled his way through the door way from the driver's cab to the transport's troop area. Of all the Guardians in the transport, only this man, known to all of them as Callen, the most up-tight guardian in the squad and the only friend of their commander.

He didn't wear his helmet, but then none of them were at the moment. Callen, however, couldn't wear his over a breathing apparatus that he was forced to wear over his face and around his neck. Everyone had been careful not to ask him what had happened to earn him that sort of treatment- those that did often found themselves considerably worse off. Stories and rumors surrounded the mask itself, but as for the truth it was anyone's guess.

He sat next to the commander but fixed his red-tinted gaze on the rookie, which only made his more intimidating through the fierce looking visor he wore. His words sounded filtered- they probably were- and rough through the mask he wore. "My name is Callen, are you the new rookie?"

The rookie seemed almost taken aback by the fact that this man was talking to her, but it was more than likely just the mask. She stared for a moment, the question of "how" on her lips, but she held it back. "Yes," she finally choked out. "my name is Aria, sir."

"Good. We've been short a man on our last few assignments and now we're whole again. Listen, we're about to arrive at the mission area, and I need to know if I can count on you." He elbowed the commander lightly in the stomach. "If we can count on you to keep your head in battle." The Commander leaned forward more surprise than the force of the attack, opening his eyes slightly, then leaned back again. He made a noise that almost sounded like a groan mixed with a sigh, then asked "Are we already there?"

"We're about to be." Callen shook his head as he turned back to the rookie. "So can we rely on you?" The commander, realizing what he had woken up in the middle of, gave a blank look to Aria.

She straitened her back into attention and saluted in an over exaggerated way that made Callen wonder if she was mocking him. Her tone of voice, however, suggested otherwise. "Of course, sir!" Sincerity and genuine ignorance to battle filled her voice rather well. This seemed like too dangerous of a mission to send a rookie on. The commander and Callen could handle it, for sure, and their various friends that also held positions on the team may be able to survive, but a rookie seemed like a gamble at best. They were on there way to a desert outpost, deep in the heart of an area outside any known countries they called maverick central, where several archeologist went digging in some ruins and found – big surprise – mavericks. It was anyone's guess what they would be fighting there. Callen's bet was ancient Elf wars war machines, but one never knows until they are shooting it down.

Callen considered voicing his opinion and asking that Aria be put somewhere safer or more fit to a rookies level, but before he could tell the commander of his objection, the vehicle came to a slow halt. Everyone slipped on their helmets, instantly losing all uniqueness in favor of an anonymous armor. At first the only change was the decidedly annoying red tint to Aria's vision, but the HUD quickly cleared her vision and set up all of the info she would need. Absently, she wondered if Callen had a HUD on his visor as she grabbed an assault rifle from rack and stepped out of the back of the truck and into the truck into the warm sun of the desert.

Aria blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the outside and it's troublesome natural light. The truck had taken them into a canyon that had been dug up by the digging tools, characterized by rough walls on either side. The ground was covered by pieces of ancient metal objects that had been discarded all around and large rocks that could not be dug up or moved immediately. Farther down the canyon, there was a small maze of tents, almost every one of them had a truck next to it. On the far side of the tents was a huge obelisk that stabbed up out of the ground to what apeared to be an impressive height.

In the tent area, two men were talking over several makeshift gravestones. Both of them had pistols on their side and one had a beam saber of some kind. When they spotted the Guardians, one of them jogged over to greet them. The man was considerably older than any of the guardians that accompanied them, wearing a dull brown uniform. A white beard hung from his face, drenched in heavy sweat and blood. His clothing was drenched in a similar manner. His appearance was ragged and his hair wild, and deep pits under his eyes told Aria he hadn't slept in a good long while.

"I was honestly wondering when you guys'd get here." The mans voice was as ragged and tired as he looked, and was interrupted by a deep breath after every word. "We've been having one hell of a time." He crouched and took several deep breaths. He had been fighting recently. The commander lifted his assault rifle just the slightest amount. His expression didn't change in the slightest, giving him a half-asleep look. "What's the problem here?"

His insistence took the man aback at first, and his response had a cynical edge to it. "They didn't tell you?" He gasped several times, then continues "They sent you all the way out here and they didn't _even tell you what was wrong_?" A long silence passed as the man was left to conclude the answer for himself. "I don't believe this. Some guardians you are! I mean really…." The commander didn't change his expression or tone. It was like talking to a Mechaniloid- you would always get the same thing the same way, not matter how many times you ask it. "What is the situation here?" Another tense moment of silence passed. The man stared at the commander, but soon he simply gave up and shook his head.

"We've been digging here for some time, and we found a whole mess of them Mavericks. The've killed sixteen of my best workers already. Old ones, Elf wars we think." The man led the team through a small maze of tents, some empty, some open-air tents. One of them had a large bloodstain spread in a thick and erratic line thrown across the entrance flaps. On the ground was a similar stain, soaked into the sand. _It's fresh,_ Aria told herself. _They've fought with these things within the hour._

"We've been keeping out of the ruins since the showed up, but sometimes they come out." The man pointed to the blood-stained tent. "They never even damage the tents. Bunch of weirdos. Why do you think that is?" The man stopped and turned to the team, probing them for questions, possibly for his research. "They only kill one of you at a time because that's what they were ordered to do. When and from who is what we are here to figure out." The man wrote down the commander's answer. For the next few minutes the group was probed for answers in this way, but everyone allowed the commander to answer with short, blunt answers.

The whole group finally came to a halt at the huge metal obelisk with a door sunk into it's front. On it was a symbol that the Aria didn't recognize, which frightened her a little. It looked like an orb with an angel wing on one the right side of it, arcing with it.

The building itself didn't seem as large up close, maybe the size of a regular building in any city around the world, but the whole thing had an eerie ominous look about it. The whole structure was nicked and beaten all across it, with only one wound that was deep, a pair of strangely neat cuts across one another. It took a moment, but Aria identified it as a symbol, an "X."

"Yeah, we never figured out what it was for, either." The man had noticed Aria staring at the symbol cut into the structure. "We think it may be a warning, or a sign. Either 'give me X' or 'X was here,' whichever one you'd like it to be, I guess." He took a step towards the door and put his hand on the console on the wall.

"We're going in. Is everyone ready?" Everyone cocked their rifles. He pointed to two of the Guardians, a short man named Lepz and the plain-looking Rill. "You two stay out here, and make sure no one goes in and nothing goes out."

The two responded with a quick "yes sir" and took up positions in front of the structure.

The commander waved at their guide up to this point. "Open this thing up." He demanded.

"Sure thing, sure thing," The man keyed in what Aria assumed to be a pass code of some kind, and the door made the cracking sound of a pressure lock releasing.

As soon as the door creaked open, a feint musky scent assaulted the team. The air inside was thick and clawing, and eerily cold despite being in the desert. The walls and floor were covered with thick amounts of mold and cobwebs with a small amount of sand from the outside.

Beyond the door was a set of stairs leading down in a spiraling way for an amount that couldn't be seen. Aria adjusted her visor several times, but ended up with the same result she had from the very beginning. She could see several others doing the same thing. One in particular, a tall Reploid labeled "Jake" took his helmet off completely and removed a pair of sunglasses he was wearing underneath it.

After ten minutes of walking down the flight of stares, the team reached the bottom and their first body. The pattern of the bloodstain that lanced across the ground towards a door showed that he had sliced with great force, leaving behind something less than a pretty corpse. When Aria saw what remained of the man, she immediately turned away from everyone, tore off her helmet and puked.

Leaning back up, she realized that everyone was staring at her. Under their helmets, she was sure their faces were twisted in contempt.

"Rookie, come here." The commander motioned towards her, his voice cold and flat. When she stood beside him, he asked her strait forward: "Are you going to be able to handle this? If not then I'll send you up to the door to relieve Rill. If you think so, _suck it up and don't make any more noise_."

The words stung Aria as she though about the proposition. The door was a safer bet, but she didn't want the others to think of her as a coward. This was her first mission, and she didn't intend on wasting it on guard duty. "No sir, I'll handle it." She lowered her head as she put her helmet on, keeping her eyes locked on the ground.

"Good. Rookie, you stay alongside Callen." He pointed to Callen, who was leaning against the wall in a crouch beside a door. Two Guardians on the other side of the door examined the control panel then looked to the commander and gave a thumbs-up.

The door shot open with a swish sound, and two guardians ran in and pointed their weapons down either side of the hallway. For a moment, they held their position, then stood up.

Jake found himself facing a wall, and playfully stared at it, prodded it with his gun and said "All clear."

In a flash the Jake's head was gone, leaving his body to land with a thud. From the ceiling came a Maverick that Aria didn't recognize. It was bipedal, armored Reploid with sharp claws on it's arms. It released its hold on whatever was inside the hole it had come out of and dashed at the other man.

"It's a Variant!" The commander shouted "Take it down!" his rifle raised, despite the fact that he had no clear shot at the angle he was at. He fired regardless, attempting to at least stall the thing.

Despite the efforts of the team, the variant ran his claws through the other man who went through the doorway, who let out a terrible wail of pain as the Variant finished it's job.

A spray of sudden gunfire impacted the Variant's back with sudden and violent force, throwing it to the ground. After a moment, when it didn't stand back up, the commander examined the bodies of the two fallen Guardians.

"Aw, Jake…." Callen said the name softly though his mask, staring at the decapitated body. After a moment of silence, the commander waved his hand and gave the order to move out immediately. They never knew when more mavericks might show up, after all.

"From now on, we check the ceiling for holes everywhere we go. Kid, that's your job." The commander pointed to a thin young man who had chosen to take two pistols in the place of an assault rifle. He nodded and immediately went to work.

For the next thirty minutes, nothing happened. There were no mavericks, no traps, nothing. The team moved about silently at first, but soon let their guard down. Eventually, the commander was the only one actually doing anything, and everyone else simply walked behind him non-quietly.

It was almost an hour when the commander simply said "Alright, stop." The commander's words reverberated off the walls and re-stated the orders. A faint whining sound was heard drifting through the corridors. They were in the same-looking hallway they were always in, the only difference in this one being that it ended in a small meeting are with two couches and a small table next to several old vending machines.

Aria shivered in the cold. She had no idea what the commander was on to, but according to Callen, it was always better to just listen to him rather than risk it. So, for the next five or so minutes she stared at him, along with the entire team, as he stood stark still and stared at the walls.

Kid, never taking his weapon away from the ceiling even when he was looking elsewhere, was the first to enquire. "Sir, what exactly, is wrong?" No response. He sighed as he returned his attention back to his pistol, only to scream in panic.

From the ceiling came a claw, which sliced the arm of Kid and caused him to drop the gun and thus be defenseless when the hidden Variant fell from the ceiling and impaled Kid on each of it's claws.

Before Aria could react, another emerged from the hole and landed just behind the first. This one with a small machine gun attached to it's arm, which it immediately used to opened fire, clipping Callen's thigh but not bad enough to make him unable to run.

The commander ducked behind a vending machine, which Aria mimicked, and shouted for everyone to fall back. The machine gun variant went down in a hail of weapons fire, but the clawed one lunged right into their attacks. Behind him, two more fell from the ceiling followed by one machine gun version. After a moment of nothing but constant noise, the commander finally shouted "Lets move out- now!"

The five remaining Guardians tuned to run the oposite direction, but it seemed like they had nowhere to go. A pudgy man named Lance took several machine gun rounds to the back and went down, but when Aria turned to help him she saw that he was already overwhelmed by the Clawed Variants, which Aria had now lost count of.

The group began to run from them at a breakneck pace, firing behind themselves as the ran. Ian, a tall man with long limbs, tore off his helmet and threw down his gun, then passed everyone with his sprinting speed. In mere moments, a door he was passing exploded with the figure of a Variant that grabbed hima and reeled him in.

The group found that every door they passed was exploding with the figures of Mavericks, all but one.

The team turned a sharp corner, and saw no doors along the walls of the long hallway before them. At then end was a huge door that Aria assumed had once held the symbol on the door of the stucture, but now had been carved with the same "X" as the face of the obelisk. The team came to a sudden standstill in front of a large door, and the commander demanded it be opened immediately.

Callen keyed on a small pad, and when it turned a red color, he slammed his fist into the console. To his surprise, the faceplate of the console shattered and came right off, revealing the innards of the locking mechanism. He grabbed two wires and shouted "This is going to take a minute, cover me!"

The commander scoffed as the wall of Variant rounded the corner of the corridor. "We don't _have_ a minute!" He opened fire on them and wildly threw a grenade into the midst of them, turning the first line of mavericks into a cloud of debris. This didn't stop the others from charging, as now an innumerable amount had discovered their presence and were on the attack.

Aria began to panic, backing herself into a corner and began to thrash her weapon back and forth, spraying bullets over a wide arc into the mob, eventually running her weapon out of ammo. When she tried to reload, she fumbled the clip and dropped it to the ground. She didn't bother to pick it back up, and simply threw down the assault rifle and pulled out a holdout pistol.

With a spark, Callen opened the huge door with a gasp.

"We're in, let's go!" Callen shouted in almost a panic. He ducked inside. The commander began to back his way into the door, his hand on Aria's shoulder.

The door didn't close as fast as Siege would have liked. He continued to fire at a constant rate as the crack in the doors narrowed. A single Variant lunged as the door closed, it's upped half getting suddenly caught in the door. It flailed and swung the single arm it had managed to get through, in an attempt to get one last attack before it was ended. For a moment, no one moved.

The commander clicked his weapon a few times, then dropped the weapon and pulled out a small holdout pistol from his back and fired one round into the Variant's head.

The commander leaned on the door, breathing heavy. Aria tore off her helmet and puked again, then leaned against the wall beside the door. She gasped a few times, then looked around the new place in which they found themselves.

Inside was a room that once probably held a garden, or so Aria would assume. Dead grass and fallen trees littered the ground, a small basin that she assumed had once been a pond surrounded a single, massive tree in the center that's branched were almost all broken off. The few that had survived the years were huge and sturdy, attached to the walls and one or two even had walkways carved into them. Around the room was broken remains of stone work and computers, what apeared to be a tombstone, and a huge sword.

Upon closer investigation, Aria wasn't sure how she had missed something like that on her first scan of the room. The sword was huge, easily the size of a person or maybe even bigger. It was a pitch black color, or at least had been at one time, but had since faded to a darker grey tone with dark red spilled across it randomly. All around were the telltale signs of it's use, as well; deep gashes across the walls and even up the trunk of the huge tree in the center.

"What is that...?" Callen walked over to the sword and marveled at it. "Sir, this thing has an actual blade. When was the last time you saw that?"

Aria was amazed to see a sword that didn't have a beam-blade, but the commander was still focused. So focused that he was the only one who saw what was happening.

"Callen, get down NOW!" He raised his pistol to bear on the sword and a Maverick that had hidden behind the sword. It was tall and thin, with long silver arms that ended in glowing red hands that it wrapped around the sword.

Aria stumbled backwards and raised her rifle, only to find that it was empty. Over the three remaining Guardians, the maverick now loomed. It was tall, lanky with long limbs. It's hands dragged on the ground for just a moment, then it raised its sword high. It rested one hand on the flat of it's massive blade.

"Analysis?" The commander shouted to Callen. There was no response as the huge Maverick took a long step towards the team. "Now, preferably, Callen!"

Callen put a hand on the side of his apparatus, and it seemed to Aria that he was getting a readout of some kind. "Elf wars/Battle unit/Raid machine/ _Lazarus_ type."

The commander mouthed the word. "_Lazarus_." He stared at it as it took another long stride forward. It wasn't until it raised it's sword that the commander shouted the order _"FIRE!"_


	2. Nothing so divine

**Chapter 2: ****Nothing so divine**

Aria awoke with a start, sweat pouring from her face. She leaned up from her prone state on the seats of the ship she was now riding on, the ship that had no doubt been the cause of her sleep. However, she was still amazed she that could even sleep through the tension of a mission like this. She was about to undertake her first mission in almost a year, her first with this new team. This as well as the nature of the mission itself were causing much unneeded stress for the poor girl.

_My first mission. That's why I was dreaming of then, my 'other' first mission. _Aria let her mind wander for a moment on the subject. Last time she was undergoing her "first mission," there had been ten of them involved. Now, all of them were dead. Even she was dead, in all technicalities. "executed as per a Legion court ruling," or so her file said. It was the same for her commander, and even their third teammate.

But instead of going to a cemetery or a scrap yard, they were on a mission without a real team, or even an official orders, and that alone made all of this very different. She wasn't really a Guardian now. Not since her "death." Now she reported directly to Vent, Aile, or Prairie, and no one else knew she existed.

Unfortunately, Aria didn't know the details of the mission, not yet. A contact at Legion HQ would fill her and her team in on their objective and how to achieve it, but they knew a few things about it. They were breaking into Legion HQ, which was already a terrible idea. Worse, they were going in at night, when the only people inside are guards and dignitaries who couldn't make it home and were also usually fighters. The leader and at least two members of the military-action group _The Watchers_ were present, which made her uncomfortable. And that this mission was the sort of thing the Guardian's couldn't openly admit they did, meaning if they were captured their superiors would have no choice but to throw them to the wolves.

And that's why the Special Operations team was put in place of a normal team, to make sure that if the team was caught, they would be dead before it could be traced back to the leaders. That was what happens when you don't exist- should you be caught, you really won't exist any longer.

"What's wrong?" Her commander, a red-haired man by the codename of Siege, spoke in a calm voice that she found comforting, as was his hand on her shoulder. "A bad dream? Was it the day we met?" He laughed, knowing full well he had guessed right. Aria had always envied Siege's prowess in battle, his athletic nature allowing him to outperform all but the most talented soldiers or a biometal. His calmness was also something she had envied.

Siege patted her on the head softly. Aria's hair fell in her face, throwing a rust color over her vision. She moved her hair out of the way, regretting her recent dying of her hair. It was necessary, she supposed, if Siege was going to keep passing her off to be his little sister anyways, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Aria leaned up in her seat, catching a look of sympathy from Siege for her traumatic experience. The moment, however, was somewhat ruined by the abrupt- albeit accidental- interruption from the final member of the team, K-55 Marauder.

Their ally, a tall battle-Reploid from the Elf Wars Aria had met the day she had fought alongside Callen against the Lazarus, shifted uncomfortably in the seat across from them. Those days were long gone, years ago and as Siege said it was better to not dwell on them. He shifted his weight and tossed the handle to his inactive beam-saber in one hand and caught it in the other The sound of metal hitting metal was loud, and the attention he was drawing as well as the looks on his friends faces caused him to slip the weapon back onto his belt.

Despite that, she still missed Callen and she knew Siege did, too. He was gone now, fallen in battle. He was an old friend of Siege's, and a fairly recent one of Aria's. That seemed completely irrelevant, now that he was gone. Done in by the Lazarus the day the two met.

_But then, we're supposed to be dead, too. Never forget that._

K-55 Marauder shifted again, this time accidentally knocking over a stack rations he'd made in his spare time. It really wasn't his fault, he was just a bulky mobile commander from the times when that sort of thing was needed. He immediately dove to the floor and began to pick them up.

It was after he stood back up that Aria took in just how tall he was, taller than most people and dwarfed only by Mechaniloids. His head was a round globe of a reinforced transparent material durable enough to withstand most explosives, and was also used as a screen for him, where he put up data of all kinds and displayed the his thoughts, intentionally or unintentionally. His shoulders were covered by square shoulder pads that bore blue lights on the front. His figure, while definitely wide, was obscured by a blood red cloak and a robe the color of coal. Both articles of clothing ended at hoofed feet. His hands bore three fingers each, obscured slightly by dull red wrappings that covered his forearms. His only weapons were a beam saber on his belt and a cannon mounted on his left shoulder.

"Is there something wrong?" K-55 asked quietly as he retook his seat. His voice was synthesized and filtered through a part of his face, sounding vaguely like the emergency voices in bases or ships. His bulky body shifted slightly as he spoke, anxious to get on with the mission.

"No," Siege said calmly. "She's fine. We're fine. Everything is fine." He said as he leaned back. "We're all good." He smiled at that comment. They were never good, and the mission they were on was only proof of that. They didn't know it, but they would never be 'good' again. The pilot called back from the cockpit stating that they would be arriving at Legion HQ soon. Siege stood and turned, grabbing a small duffel bag from above the seat. The weighed him down badly. He unzipped the bag partway, looking inside to find an assault rifle, and a pair of pistols hidden underneath clothing of all kinds. The weapons were all custom made not only to fit his hands, but also to be completely untraceable to him or back to the Guardians. With a satisfied smile, he shut the bag again.

Aria reached underneath her seat and pulled out a guitar case, pitch black on the outside with gold trim. Opening it slightly, she saw that her custom-outfitted sniper rifle, although disassembled, was still completely undamaged. She was always proud of the weapon and the care she took of it, even if she used it rarely.

K-55, however, simply sat still. His weaponry was all either mounted to his body or already on him. He stared in silence as his teammates checked their weapons, while he simply ran a diagnostic on his own. He wasn't sure if it was better or worse that the other's situation.

The ship came to a slow and eventual stop over what they assumed was their destination. The seal on the back hatch popped, allowing the cold night air to wash over the group. The door opened slowly with a soft hiss, revealing the inky black void that was night, only lit by the infinitesimal lights of the city far below them. Directly underneath them was a building lit by a single red light on the top, before which was the silhouette of a man, their contact.

"Alright," The pilot was yelling. "The cloaking device is active, so you won't be seen until you leave the ship. Radio me once you've completed the mission and I'll come back for you." Siege nodded and gave a thumbs-up to the pilot.

Siege left the ship first, landing with a roll on the roof and silently coming to a halt. Aria tossed his duffel bag to him, then jumped herself. Her jump, however, proved considerably less impressive, as she landed at a slight angle and hit the ground on all fours.

K-55, with Aria's guitar case on his back, leapt from the ship and landed with a solid-although unprofessional and completely lacking in stealth- crouch, sending a thick _boom_ into the night air and cracks in all directions and in the ground.

They felt the wind of their transport leaving, but couldn't see it through the cloaking. They all stared for a moment, waiting to see if they could catch just the slightest glimpse of the ship.

The building wasn't defensible in any way, which showed how confident Legion was in their military prowess. Very little was on top of this portion of the building other than the landing pad, a few lights and a single doorway that lead into the building itself.

Aria was the first to turn her attention to the man who was there to greet them, who was now lit by the small lights K-55 and Siege had activated on their belts. His hair was short and jet black with a small eyepiece covering his left eye, displaying various information the way K-55's head did. His clothing consisted of a long coat of a dark brown, almost black color. On his sleeves was a stripe going up to his neck, each dull orange in color.

Around his neck was a lightly armored apparatus the likes of which Aria had only seen once before, on the neck of Callen, who needed it to breath. As for the mask, Aria assumed he didn't need it.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Aria whispered to Siege, despite the fact that she had been told time and time again that it was fine. The man, although able to see that she was talking to Siege, kept a completely strait face.

"Prairie knows the guy, personally." Prairie, their commander, was a nice enough person, although Aria felt she would trust anyone who was above a 3rd grade reading level with secrets that could cripple her organization.

"How personally?" That was the question she didn't want to ask. She had out of curiosity, and immediately wished she hadn't asked. "I didn't ask. Anyways, she says he's more than trustworthy, she swears by him." Siege shook the man's hand. "My name is Siege, this is Aria and K-55 Marauder."

"It's good to see you. My name is Steth. I'm a member of the group _Countermeasure_." Each of the Guardians was taken aback by that last statement. K-55 and Aria merely took up positions slightly farther away. Siege, however, grabbed Steth's collar and put a bayonet he'd hidden in his sleeve to his neck. Siege's bayonet, a weapon he alone carried in the field of battle nowadays, was unique unto itself. It seamed at first glance a simple knife, but closer inspection revealed no blade, instead requiring that it be activated the way a beam sword was.

"Really? Well, no one was supposed to know we exist outside of Prairie's inner circle. So we can't have you going off and telling you're commander, now can we?" Siege said quickly as he activated the weapon's blade, which shot heated green light across the edge of the weapon until it reached the tip.

"Please, there's no reason for that." Steth said coolly. His face didn't change, despite the weapon near his neck. "I have no intention of informing my commander of any of this. This honestly has nothing to do with Countermeasure, this one goes all towards the Guardians."

Siege waited a moment. "Suppose I don't believe you? What then?"

"I suppose you would have to kill me, then be killed by the hundreds of Guards that come storming up to investigate the noise." He smiled softly.

"I Do you even know what this is? It doesn't make a sound, tested and proven by your's truly."

"I have the alarm system already brought up on my apparatus. If you kill me, it goes off." Siege waited for a long time, contemplating the validity of such a threat. He must have figured it was too much to risk, and he deactivated his weapon and slid it into it's hidden sheath again.

"Are you guys doing this to get back at the Hunters? I hear there's some bad blood between you guys as of late." Siege took a step away from Steth and picked his duffel bag back up. He could hide a knife, but guns were different entirely.

Steth looked away in an attempt to avoid the question. Siege had referred to an incident a mere few months ago, when the current leader of Countermeasure was supposed to inherit the title of the Hunter's leader. However, the previous leader had instead given it to Grey, a young Reploid who wielded a biometal. Enraged by that event, two new groups had broken from the ranks of the Hunters. The first was Countermeasure. The second was the one who had a presence here in Legion HQ, the Watchers.

After a long period of silence everyone realized they weren't going to get an answer. "What's the plan then?"

Steth took a step forward and motioned for everyone to come closer. "As you know you three are here to do the Guardian's dirty work. As in, their _really_ dirty work. Well, this is as dirty as it gets." He pulled out a machine the size of a pen, and placed it softly on the ground. After a second, the machine lit up and activated a hologram of the building.

"Here," He pointed to the very bottom of the hologram, to a basement. The room his hand invaded turned red and began to flash. "Legion HQ recently uncovered one of the Guardian's dirty little secrets. A project one of the higher-ups had started without anyone's permission, an attempt to copy the biometals. The results were… questionable. Anyways, they found out about the project somehow and stole everything. If the Sage Trinity- er, what's left of the sage trinity- manages to reveal release to the press that they have those things, it may shake the world's faith in the Guardians, which could bring them down."

"Nice summary." Siege said flatly. He yawned slightly before adding onto his previous statement. "It's good to know we have all of the info. Why won't they release it all to the press now?"

"I don't know. They may not be able to at the moment, but we don't know when they may. They might tomorrow, or the next day. Whichever one or maybe another." Steth shut down the hologram and put away the device. "Your job is to get down there, and get rid of those things. Steal them, destroy them, I don't care as long as you don't make a whole lot of noise." Siege shot a poison-filled look to Steth. "How are we supposed to do that? And what are you going to be doing the whole time?" Siege took a step towards Steth.

Aria followed suit, but said nothing to Siege. She made a soft noise, and pushed Siege a little, just enough to throw off his balance. His gaze met hers in a glare, which he then turned back to Steth. "How are we getting down there?"

Steth stared back at Siege for a long while, his gaze blank and uncaring. "Find a way. You're special ops, right? I'll distract them however I can, but be careful where you tread. You may not like what you find."

Steth walked over to the door and opened it slowly. "I suggest you find another way down. This doorway is guarded and unless you want to kill someone before this even begins." He began to close the door behind him, giving a thumbs-up sign as it closed.

The mission had begun, but Siege felt mostly the same as he had before. They were lost in what was essentially enemy territory, with little to no info on what they were doing or what the were supposed to do.

"Shit." Siege scoffed. "This whole plan is completely… insane. Almost no info to speak of, no plan of any kind. Jesus, who set this up?!" Siege kicked a rock off the roof. Only later would it occur to any of them that such an act could have been destructive or how a rock got on the roof to begin with. "K-55." Siege pointed at the Marauder. "I need you to come over here."

K-55 looked at Aria, then walked at a plodding pace to Siege's side. Siege pointed with two fingers at his teammate. "Alright, Aria." His hand swung around behind him to face the door. "I need you to go into the building proper and find the leader of the Watchmen and his two operatives. Distract them or at the very least tell me where they are. _Do not_ make contact with them unless it's necessary." His hand returned to his side as he began to walk with a sense of conviction over to the side of the structure the door was in, over to a small metal panel that stuck out a mere two inches.

"How will I get past the guards?" Her voice was shaky at the least, and her face filled with fear. She hugged her guitar case close to her body, probably to keep from shaking in the cold air.

Siege thought for a moment, then said "Go get Steth. Tell the guards you're with him, convince them to let you through. After that, either explain the situation or ditch him at the first chance you get." He nodded and waited for her to confirm his order.

Aria nodded back at Siege, then ran for the door and tore it open, barreling down the stairs and into the building proper below them. The others could hear her shout "Steth!" once before the door shut behind her.

"Alright, K-55, I need you to come over here." Siege put his hand on the metal box on the wall and stared at it for a moment. "Put your fist into this. Tear out some wires and send a current through them, lets try to short out this whole place."

K-55's information, displayed plainly on his globe-head, turned a deep purple, but he moved his massive frame forward to follow orders. With a wind up, K-55 shoved his fist into the wall, sending small pieces of metal shrapnel out in all directions. Electricity lanced out from the box, creeping up K-55 arms and catching Siege a few times. K-55, at this point _willed _his own electric current forward, sending blue-hued lightning into the wires. Once it all died, the lights on the landing pad shut off, a solid conformation that the power had gone out.

"All right, K-55. Here's my plan."

Aria jogged beside Steth, his pace far outdoing her own. She huffed twice, but all he gave in sympathy was a quick "Keep up." His voice was low and hushed as they passed another guard, who was hurrying about in the dim light of the emergency power, ushering them towards a central room where they would be 'safe.' "Why are you following me?"

Aria took a quick breath as another guard passed them, this one simply running past without a word. After he was gone, she spoke in a whisper into his ear "The commander told me to use you to get through the guards. I figure if I run into more of them, especially while the power is out, the may just start shooting at me."

Steth scoffed at her comment. "Are you kidding me? It's practically pitch black. You could just _tell _them that you were someone else. Or just kill them."

"I couldn't just kill-" A solid boom spread through the corridors, cutting off Aria mid sentence. Steth immediately sucked himself against the wall, followed by Aria who proved considerably clumsier when her guitar case hit the wall twice.

"I said where the hell are we, and where the hell are we going!?" A deep, gruff voice yelled out. The roar of the man was nearly deafening and certainly intimidating, causing Aria to back up instinctually.

A softer, more calm voice came next. It sounded younger, more controlled. "I don't know. I can't get the terminal working." A clicking sound followed, then an error noise.

"Well, get them working!" The loud voice retuned.

While Aria had been listening to the conversation, Steth had wandered over to a nearby doorway. He motioned for her to join him twice before she noticed him, then she crawled over as well.

Peeking around into the doorway over Steth's head, Aria spotted two men inside. She gasped at the two, astounded to see someone like either of them.

One, the loud one no doubt, wore a long black coat with two gun metal grey shoulder pads attached to it. More than that, he was huge, close to seven and a half feet, or possibly higher. It was due to this height, or so Aria assumed, that the man slouched so far down, almost giving him an animalistic quality. His hair was in a black man that hung loosely behind him for the most part.. On his side was an axe, not too large on it's own but it seemed to Aria that it was more of an emergency weapon than his standard one.

The massive man hulked over a considerably smaller man that seemed to have a dignified air to him. His entire body was strait, as if he was standing at attention, On his head was a visor pulled up over his head, which bore a scope of some sort on one side, giving the idea that he was some sort of sniper. His clothing was a pristine white, adorned with the word "Hope" on the reinforced armor and on his sleeves.

A crack spider web had spread its legs across the wall next to a computer terminal that had gone blank, probably from where the larger man had punched it. That seemed unlikely due to the size and depth of the crater, but there was nothing else around that could do that sort of thing, and he looked strong enough to do that sort of thing.

"Looks like your on your own from here. Aria, go do whatever you need to, I'll take care of them." Steth whispered softly. His face had changed from the blank stare to a cold and intimidating gaze as he stared at the two men she assumed where the operatives from the Watchers.

Regardless of who they were, Aria stood up silently and pulled her guitar case close to her body. She hugged it tightly, then turned to run the other way. As she ran, Steth stood up and casually strolled into the small room as he pretended to be adjusting his gloves.

"Evening, boys." was all she heard him say as she bolted down the hallway, trying to think of a way to either contact Siege or distract the guards on her own. She knew she had little time to think of something before the normal lights came back on, and then they may just shoot her on sight.

"I'm not sure this plan is even close to alright." K-55 said into his radio. He was standing over a ceiling tile, sneaking around air ducts wires and insulation, something his body was not built for, which resulted in him getting tangled repeatedly in the hanging wires and anything that may be in his way. Once he had to drop a light in order to get by, making a most unexpected but completely welcome distraction that drew all of the guards to that location as he wandered off.

"It's fine. The plan is great. Executing it may be hard, but the plan is still at least good enough.." Siege said from his hiding place. He made an audible sound, a grunt maybe, as he climbed down, but K-55 knew that there was no point in saying anything to him about it. Even if he lost his footing and fell the result would be the same as it would be should the plan actually went through. Either way, Siege was pretty much dead.

"Don't break out until my signal." K-55 came to a halt and scanned the room below him with a wide array of sensors of all kinds. With the readings he got back, he surmised that he was right above some sort of security station. He waited for a second, third and fourth conformation before giving Siege the 'in position' sound, three clicks of the radio.

"Good, good." Siege said hurriedly. K-55 heard a metallic scrape, followed by a bang. Siege had fallen, but caught himself before he fell too great a distance. A quick check from K-55 confirmed this, and made him feel a little better, but not much. He knew where Siege was and what he was trying to do, and knew the consequences of a slip up in that situation.

"We'll wait for Aria to get into position, then we'll make our move."

Aria stopped to take a breath for a moment. Leaning against a wall and panting, she dropped her guitar case and propped it against the wall and put her hands on her knees as she continued to try and catch her breath. She'd been running for a while now, and had run out of breath. It was stupid of her to run the whole distance, but she'd done it regardless.

As she caught her breath, the lights came back on as the guards (or so she assumed) fixed whatever Siege had done to it to switch the building over to auxiliary power. She cursed under her breath, knowing that now she would be easily spotted in the bright hallways of Legion HQ.

Then she noticed the man in front of her. It was the man from earlier, the smaller man with 'hope' printed on his uniform. His face was that of a statue, his eyes gazing right through her.

"There's a weapon in your case," he said placidly. He glanced at it to show what he meant. "I want to know why you have it."

Aria began to sweat. She'd already guessed that this guy was one of the operatives from the Watchers, but how good was he? Could she take him? _No! _Her thoughts screamed to her. _Just run! He'll beat you before you can even draw a weapon!_

"I'm sorry," She said as she stooped to lift her case from the ground. "I've got to go! I've an appointment I have to keep!" with a nearly panic-stricken movement, she yanked the case with unnecessary force, causing her to stumble. Once she regained her balance, she began to run in the opposite direction.

"Of course," the man said, his voice still flat. "Always have to keep an appointment." He smiled, but Aria couldn't see it. She also couldn't see the pistol he'd drawn on her. "I'll go ahead and tell the guards you're here!"

The first shot hit the case. Aria couldn't believe how perfect the shot was, destroying the locking mechanism as well as the handle without hitting her knuckles. The second round, however, clipped her side, no doubt intentionally, causing her to spin around to face him before collapsing to the ground.

"Gunshots!" K-55 spat over the radio. His tone was that of panic, but Siege seemed to be calm as ever. "Those were gunshots just now! Aria's in trouble!"

"Well, damn. Accelerate the plans, but stay with it. Take out the security, then engage Tyr in combat." Another scraping was heard, this one less grating and more controlled than the last one. Following it was the sound of Siege hitting the ground in the lower hallways.

"What about Aria?" K-55 voice gave no hints of emotion, but the soft pink lights that illuminated the small, cramped space he occupied gave away his concern. His lights began to flicker erratically as he wondered what may have happened to her.

"I've come to the first door. Tell me when you're ready to move in." K-55 could hear Siege tapping on the door, looking for a solution that didn't force K-55 to unlock the doors from the security room.

"Siege?" "What?"

"What about Aria?"

"If you don't come across her, then she's left behind. That's how this business works." Siege said flatly. "Look, I'm not meaning to be cold-hearted or anything, but really, we can't help her if she's captured.

For a long moment, K-55 didn't say anything. Although he would never admit it, he was actually running the odds of his survival and success if he left Siege. Unfortunately, the odds were slim to none. "Fine. I'll help her if she's in my vicinity." "Roger. Are you ready for your part?"

K-55 shifted and stood slightly from his crouch. "I'm ready."

"Launch!" K-55 punched the ceiling tile he stood on. Despite being made of sturdy materials, it immediately cracked and gave way as his fist came in contact with it. The steel and concrete mix fragmented, showering three men in tiny bits of fragmented stone.

All three men let out a shriek as K-55 fell from the ceiling, and he used that surprise to land a bone-crushing punch on top of the head of the first one, who was unconscious- or possibly dead- before he hit the ground. The second man fell out of his chair in the surprise, which K-55 kicked into the man's face. He assumed the man's nose broke, as a thin ribbon of blood shot from him as his head hit the floor. The chair hit the wall and cracked in several places, shattering as the third and final man, having had the time to draw his weapon, fired a shot at K-55, which he merely took in the chest before punching the man in the ribs, shattering all of them and probably crushing his insides as well.

Satisfied the three were incapacitated for the next few hours, K-55 accessed the Terminal at the far end of the room. After a moment of searching, he found a route to hack into the security in the lower levels, bringing up a list of twelve doors, each red with the word _locked _beside them. With the press of a few keys, the word changed to _unlocked_, giving K-55 a premature sense of accomplishment.

"It's done, Siege! Go, go go!"

"Roger that!"


End file.
